Page 108 of Right in Front of You

“What I want is for you to watch as I fuck your daughter, the way I watched when you fucked my wife.”

Daughter?

I peeked through the thin slit of the door. Doctor Burke was sitting in a chair with his hands tied behind his back. Though a shadow of worry underlined his eyes, he appeared unnerved by the situation.

“I’m not sure if you know it, but Molly here has had some practice. She’s very good at staying quiet.”

“What have you done?” Anger and rage that had built inside of Doctor Burke, seeped between his lips. It all mysteriously transferred into my body as the words exchanged finally started hitting me right in the middle of my chest; words that had haunted Molly her entire life.

“A little switch-a-roo of Clare’s paternity test, and Bam! I was an instant father.”

“Will you just let Mom and Doctor Burke go?” It was the first time I heard Molly’s voice, and while I wanted to exhale with relief that she was alive, I didn’t. Fowler was a dangerous son of a bitch, and I didn’t trust anything he said or did.

“Molly didn’t tell you, did she? We had so much fun when she lived in this house, I thought it was only fair to show you myself. That’s why I brought you here, Burke. You know, I remember watching you fuck Clare over here, just before the wedding. Now you’ll watch me fuck Molly over here. You took my woman, and I took your daughter. And she was real good, too.”

“You son of a bitch! You fucking raped my daughter?” Doctor Burke thrashed in the chair. “You gave me a man’s word when we had the paternity test done! You were supposed to protect Clare and your child. You were supposed to love them,” Doctor Burke screamed.

“And then you went ahead and fucked my wife again. You broke our agreement!” Fowler replied.

“He’s not a man. He’s a monster,” Molly spat to the floor. “He’s a drunk, a pedophile, and a rapist. I should have slit your throat that day. I should have burned your body in a pile of shit because that’s where you belong.”

“Whoa there, baby. Sounds like you’ve been hanging around the Clark boy too much. Well, we’re going to fix that, aren’t we?” he mocked, as he took Molly’s chin between his fingers and squeezed it. “The next fire I set, I’ll make sure he’s in the building.” She thrashed in the chair she was tied to. I could only see half of her and wanted to see more, but if I opened the door any further, he’d notice.

“You bastard!” she screamed.

“I think that’s enough talking. We don’t have any time to waste.”

Molly’s screams hurt my ears. I tried to tune her out, to concentrate, but that was impossible. He was moving her. It took everything in my body not to run in there and rip his head off. I watched as he untied her hands and, holding a knife underneath her ribcage, crossed in front of Doctor Burke.

“Are you really going to do this, Ron? You know you won’t get away with it. Do whatever you want to me, just leave Molly and Clare alone,” Doctor Burke begged. The sound of footsteps faded as Molly’s father took her out of the room.

“You’ll get your fucking turn, Burke, when we come back. I’ll slice off your small dick slowly. Maybe you’ll be fucking spared and bleed to death before I make the final cut. Come on, baby, let’s get those scrubs off like a good little girl. I know you can do it.”

I peeked through the thin slit in the door again. I was wrong. Fowler hadn’t left with Molly, but he was holding a knife against Mrs. Fowler’s throat. Molly’s eyes were puffed up. Her nose was swollen and the front of her shirt bloodied.

That fucker’s going to die.I just needed a chance. One small chance to get in there and grab him. But how?

You can’t kill him, I heard from somewhere within me, but ignored it. If Fowler was anywhere within my reach, I’d kill him.

I backed away from the door, then ran to the front of the house. I picked up a flower pot and smashed it on the porch, then sprinted to the rear and peeked through the back door. Fowler disappeared with Molly to the front and I tiptoed in.

“Shh,” I put my finger to my lips, before crawling on all fours to untie Burke’s hands from behind the chair. My heart was pounding and my hands were shaking. Beads of sweat dripped down my forehead. It took all my concentration not to lose my cool and run to the front of the house to get Molly. If I had any chance of saving them all, I’d need to tuck that rage away.

Keep your head on straight, Carter.

“Go get the police,” Doctor Burke whispered, but I couldn’t leave them or make the call right now because Fowler’s returning steps pounded louder and louder in my ears. I didn’t have enough time to untie Mrs. Fowler. Ron was coming back with Molly.

“Don’t move. Pretend you’re still tied,” I said to Doctor Burke, showing him the gun tucked in the back of my jeans. He nodded and I crawled to behind the couch, disappearing there just before they walked back into the living room.

“Not a smart idea to leave your flower pots on the railing, Clare. Wind knocked one over.” Fowler grunted. “Now, where were we? Take that shirt off, like a good girl.” From behind the couch I saw that he still had the knife close to Molly, but his body was blocked by a supporting column.

You have to take a chance, Carter.I heard Daisy’s voice. She was right. I couldn’t live if I lost Molly. Without thinking I jumped out from behind the couch to the side for a clear view of Fowler, and pointed my gun his way.

“Don’t move, Fowler.”

He almost dropped his knife, but as soon as he composed himself, he dashed for Molly. I fired a warning shot up in the air.

“You fucking move and the next one is going straight through you. Put your hands up,” I ordered.

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